The Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos is receiving a fresher version of Android 4.4.2 KitKat OTA as we speak. The update started rolling out a few days ago and thankfully the manual file is available for us to make a guide for those wishing to install it on top of root access plus a range of other reasons.

Checklist

Download and install the Samsung USB Drivers from here if they are not up to date already on your computer. Those using Samsung Kies Utilities don’t have to worry because Kies will automatically update the computer with Drivers.

We are using the Odin app today that is made for Windows PCs only. It will not work on Ubuntu, Linux, Mas OS X of any description including Mountain Lion or Mavericks. However, it will work on XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Odin is an official tool made by the real developers from Samsung so people can do things like flash firmware. They do not announce why they chose to ignore the other operating systems, but if we were to guess we’d say it is because they aren’t as popular. Furthermore, Samsung has a relationship with Android who is in heavy competition with the Apple iPhone. Apple is also the company that makes the iPhone.

Turn off any security software temporarily to avoid interference between the app and the security. Do it on the Desktop or laptop running WIndows and the Android-based OS from the smartphone.

The device system partition is wiped during the installation process if you are running a Custom ROM. Moreover, if it has root access the root is revoked and it will return to stock firmware with no custom recovery, Rom or rotted application able to run until a new root is applied over the top of the new stock firmware. To do that you will need to find another guide.

Do not start the guide unless you have at least 60% battery power saved up. Some Android devices are good enough to run off laptops and PC system units with a USB charging feature working; therefore, the handset ends up more charged than what it was at the beginning of the steps. However, many won’t have that feature this time, so give yourself enough juice to see the guide out in its entirety.

Head to Settings >About Phone and verify the model number is SM-G7102. if the model number is reading something different, do not continue from here because it can brick the device.

Go to Develop Options and Enable USB Debugging Mode. The option is hidden in Android 4.2 software. To unlock it tap on the build number seven times from the About Device section and it will show up in the settings.

Make sure you backup the data to the internal memory before starting the guide. Backup using helium or Titanium available from the Google Play Store. If you need more space try hosting some data or documents at Google Drive. They offer the first 15 GB free and after that it is a paid service.

10. Do not touch any buttons on the handset or the computer until it finishes.

11. The ID: COM port will change to a favorable appearance.
– now it is safe to close down Odin.

12. Move the mouse to the system tray and right click the “Safely remove hardware” box.
– stop the USB MAS Storage device from operating.
– now it is safe to unplug the phone from the computer system unit.